SAS Webinar

Saturday, June 12, 2021

2:00 p.m.

“The Olmec Cascajal Block through the Portable Portals”

by Joanne Carpenter

The Cascajal Block is a tablet-sized writing slab in Mexico made of serpentinite which has been dated to the early first millennium BCE. It is incised with hitherto unknown characters that may represent the earliest writing system in the New World. Joanne will discuss the possible link between this discovery and the Olmec civilization. The Cascajal Block was first discovered in 1999 and refused as a possible connection to the Olmec; however many archaeologists are academically finding evidence to prove its arrival is connected to Olmec representation.

Joanne Carpenter is a native Hawaiian.  James Booth Cummings of the Cummings Clan is her great grandfather her and her great grandmother; Sarah Nela Kaimu Kuhaulua is a third generation Native Hawaiian. She resides on the big island and has a AA and BA in Anthropology. She is a member of the Sacramento Archeological Society and with pleasure she has served as the Vice President with Travis County Archeological Society in Texas for years. She has 18 years of archaeology experience in the field and taught grade school. At an early age she searched the ground for artifacts and still does.